Farley Proofing Press catalogue, c1971

I’ve been trying to track down information on my Farley proofing press since I first picked it up a couple of years ago, but it seems that documentation is actually quite hard to come by from this Croydon-based manufacturer. With presses as far afield as Australia, I always wondered if there could be any paraphernalia out there somewhere…

Simon Goode at the London Centre for Book Arts came across this 1971 Farley catalogue whilst looking through his archives and very kindly supplied a high-resolution scan. It isn’t a detailed document but shows the various presses that were made by Farley, their basic dimensions and weights (something that I tried, unsuccessfully, to track down before picking up the press).

It turns out that Farley had distributors all over the world, as shown on the third page of the document. They made a range of galley, cylinder and powered proofing presses, as well as various sundries. The powered press, a Farley #26 is something I’ve never seen before – I wonder if anyone has seen one in use or has one today?

I’ve uploaded the scans below for reference. Hope they are of use to someone!